News

Just a quick note to
remind you that we will have our next meeting on Saturday, Oct. 22 at
2:00 p.m. at the Fall Harvest Horse Show (formerly PMHA Morab
Nationals.) This show is held at the Kentucky Horse Park in the covered
arena (AKA the old indoor.) We'll plan to meet by the outgate side of
the arena like we did the last time we had a meeting there.

I've
attached the 2016 membership application at the bottom of this post. Please send these in as soon
as possible--Kathie will be sending them by regular mail, but if we can
get them sooner, it'll save the club some stamps and envelopes.

Morgan Photos

We're
putting together new booth decorations and updating our club photo
album, and I need your help. Please send me any photos you have of your
Morgans competing, on the trail, in parades, or wherever you have fun
with them. Additionally, if you have any images from club activities and
events (especially if you have any from breed demos at the Horse Park),
please send those as well. Our album has a big gap from around 2003
through 2010 or so, and we could certainly use current photos from the
past couple of years, too. These images will be part of the display when
we attend events as ambassadors of the Morgan breed, so we want images
that will draw people in and show the fun of having a Morgan in your
life.

If you have high-resolution digital images that
you'd like to share, you can send them to me using Google Drive or
Dropbox (if you haven't used those services before, I can walk you
through it.)

Equine Affaire Volunteers

I'm still looking for volunteers to help staff the booth during Equine Affaire, April 7-10.
Right now we have a bare-minimum crew; if we can have two or three
people for each day, that means volunteers will be able to switch off
and do some shopping or catch a clinic (take a look at the clinic/demo
schedule here: http://equineaffaire.com/ohio/features/program/schedule/).
If you're available and interested, please let me know ASAP.

I hope you've
all had a good (or at least tolerable!) winter and are excited about
spring and summer horse activities ahead. We'll be holding our first
meeting of the year at the Scott County Extension Office this month, and
I want to make sure as many people attend as possible so that we can
get everyone's input on what kind of activities the club should work on
this year. So, please let me know which of these dates you would prefer
to meet:

Saturday, March 19, 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 26, 6:30 p.m. (Note: March 27 is Easter)

Please reply by this Friday, March 11,
with your preferred date so that we can reserve the space. And if you
can't make either date, please send me a note with your thoughts on
activities for the year--we're a small group and that means each
individual member's ideas count for a lot! We want to plan activities
that will be fun and/or educational for our membership, but I need your
input to make it happen.

Equine Affaire

The
Ohio Morgan club that usually participates in Equine Affaire was not
able to do it this year, and Equine Affaire reached out to us and asked
if we'd be able to represent the Morgan breed. This is a big venue and
it would be really great if we could step up and make sure our breed is
represented. It takes place in Columbus, Ohio, April 7-10.
If you are interested in volunteering to work a Morgan booth for any
part of that weekend, please contact me ASAP and let me know when you
would be available. It's just a month away, so we need to act quickly.

Women's Honor Roll

The following note was forwarded from AMHA Executive Director Julie Broadway:

We
are in the process of compiling a list of names of potential women to
recognize in the upcoming issue of
The Morgan Horse magazine’s “Women’s Honor Roll.” These should be women
that have made significant contributions to the Morgan breed

If you would like to suggest someone for our consideration please drop me an email by March 11th and include a short explanation as to why you think this person is deserving.

A Note to Morgan Exhibitors

The
AMHA has also asked us to remind anyone who will be competing in Morgan
classes at USEF shows about a rule change that takes effect this year:

The
USEF Board of Directors recently approved the change that all owners
(lessees), exhibitors, and trainers of horses participating at
Federation licensed competitions in all Morgan sections must be current
members (Standard or Premium) in good standing AMHA. If you are not an
AMHA member, a non-member fee of $45 will be imposed on the exhibitor.

Just a reminder that our year end/holiday party is next Saturday, Nov. 21 at the Scott County Extension office in Georgetown from 6:30 p.m. to approximately 9:30 (but you're welcome to just drop in for a short time!)

Plan
to bring an ornament for the ornament swap (no more than $10-15) and a
dish to share for the potluck. This is a fun, casual gathering, but we
will also be doing officer elections. This will be our last official
get-together for a few months, so please try to stop by if you can!

Please RSVP to me at bluegrassmorgans@gmail.com by Tuesday
with how many people you're bringing with you and what you'll be
bringing for the potluck (you don't need to commit to specifics, but let
me know if you're bringing a side dish, dessert, etc.)

Horsey
activities are winding down for 2015, and we're going to close out our
year with our annual holiday party. This year, we've scheduled the party
for Saturday, November 21 and are tentatively planning to use
our normal meeting time, 6:30 p.m. at the Scott County Extension Office.
Hopefully the pre-Thanksgiving date will make it a fun, laid-back
evening before the real holiday season craziness begins!

We'll
plan to do a potluck and ornament swap. We'll also do officer elections
at the party, so if you're interested in holding a BMHA office, let me
know ASAP.

That will be our last club get-together for the
year, but there are a couple of other horse events coming up that may be
of interest:

Nov. 5-7: U.S. Dressage Finals at the Kentucky Horse Park

Last
year, several of us went to cheer on the Morgan stallion GKB Coal
Magic. I'm not sure if there will be any Morgans this year, but it's
still a great event to attend as a spectator. Classes take place in the
Alltech Arena and outdoors in the hunter/jumper complex.

Dec. 5: Lebanon Christmas Carriage Parade in Lebanon, Ohio

This
is a 100% horse-powered parade. I'm planning to make the trip up there
this year, and I'd love to meet up if any of you are doing the same. I
can't describe it better than the photos can, so take a look:
https://www.facebook.com/lebanoncarriageparade/

And if
you're looking for something to do tomorrow, the last day of the
National Horse Show at the Horse Park includes the final round of the
Maclay Final in the morning, an appearance by the Budweiser Clydesdales
at noon, and the FEI World Cup Jumping Lexington at 2 p.m., which will
feature the best of the best from the show jumping world.

Thanks to all who came out to Old Friends last weekend! If you missed it, there are more photos here on our website (click here) and on our Facebook page. Our next scheduled club event is our annual summer cookout at MelRich Farm in Louisville on August 22. Exact time TBD, but mark the date on your calendar. It's always a good time and you don't want to miss it!

We're planning to send a mid-year newsletter that will go out via
regular mail (since some of our members don't do email.) Please send
news and/or photos from your farm about what you and your Morgans have
been up to in the first half of 2015 by next Friday, July 10. Any and all contributions are greatly appreciated! Email your updates to bluegrassmorgans@gmail.com.

Here are a few other upcoming Kentucky and regional equine events of interest:

Congratulations to Susan Orosz and her bay Morgan mare, Ultra's
Once Upon a Time (aka "Belle)! They are the 2015 recipients of the Kay
Dale Memorial Trophy which was awarded at the Gayla Driving CDE on
Sunday, May 17. Despite unusually high temperatures and pouring rain,
this team gave it their all, looking great and exhibiting true
Morgan spirit! Susan and Belle competed in the Training Single Pony
Combined Test and travelled from Ohio to compete. This was their first
time in the CDE world!

The Kay Dale Memorial
Trophy is awarded to the team with the "Best Morgan Turnout" in honor of
our beloved, Kay Dale. Kay was very proud of her special (and
talented) gelding, Firewheel Hat Trick. They were the epitome of
perfection at every competition. The BMHA lovingly honors her annually
with this award. Thanks to the Gayla Driving Center in Georgetown for
their support of our award and for displaying the perpetual trophy for
us in their office year round.

Click here to download our first newsletter of 2015. Big thanks to Kathie Morrow for putting it together, and for everyone who contributed news and photos.

Also, click on Calendar in the top navigation bar to see upcoming club events and local horse happenings for this year. If you have an event that you'd like to be included on the calendar, please send me an email at bluegrassmorgans@gmail.com.

The Bluegrass Morgan Horse Association learned recently that our good friend and long-time, loyal member Stan (Stanley Carl) Doerting, 92, passed away on Saturday, January 3, 2015, at his Lexington home with his children by his side. Born in Louisville, KY, Stan lead a long and full life. He retired in 1987 after a long and successful career in insurance. Stan was also a WWII Veteran. After Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Army Signal Corps and received specialized training at Colorado School of Mines before being assigned to the Pentagon. He was part of the Radio-Photo Unit stationed in Hawaii. Stan loved his family and dedicated his life to them. He also loved horses and horseback riding (He and his mare, Centaur Susan Hawk, are probably trotting through a beautiful pasture right now!), outdoor activities, and travelling with his late wife, Mickey. Stan was a member of the BMHA, the Scott Co. Saddle Club, the Bluegrass Sportsman's League; and was a Kentucky Colonel. Playing the saxophone and singing were two of his favorite pasttimes. Stan, thank you for your decades of friendship and support. We will truly miss you. (For more on Stan's life, please visit www.legacy.com)

I'm aiming to put together our year-end newsletter to send out
by the end of the month. Please send me any news, stories and/or photos
about you and your Morgans from 2014 by this Friday, Dec. 12.
Even if you don't think you have any big news, any photos of your
horses or updates on what's happening with your horses and farms are
appreciated!

Also, if anyone has any photos from the 2014
Kentucky Round-up or the open house at Maple Run Farm from last winter
that they don't mind sharing, please send them my way. I have a few, but
I lost most of them with my old laptop (lesson learned: always back up
everything.)

And finally, I am tentatively scheduling our first meeting of 2015 for Saturday, January 17
in Georgetown. We'll plan to map out some events and activities for the
club to do in the coming year at that meeting, so start thinking of
ideas.

Hope you have a great holiday season and a happy new year! See you in 2015!